A&M's Hyman eager to be 'difference maker'

Updated 2:32 am, Sunday, July 1, 2012

Athletic director Eric Hyman said he’s ready to guide Texas A&M into the SEC: “We’ve got to buckle up and be ready to compete at the highest level.”

Athletic director Eric Hyman said he’s ready to guide Texas A&M into the SEC: “We’ve got to buckle up and be ready to compete at the highest level.”

Photo: AP Photo/Bryan-College Station Eagle, Stuart Villanueva

A&M's Hyman eager to be 'difference maker'

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COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M women's basketball coach Gary Blair was eager to get to know his new boss, and Pauline Hyman happily filled Blair in on her husband Eric's zeal for hoops.

“She told me there's good news and bad news,” Blair said with a smile. “She said he'll sit directly across from your bench on the first row, and nobody will get on the officials more. But he'll also help coach your team.”

A&M introduced Eric Hyman, 61, as its new athletic director on Saturday and for now, at least, he realizes he has bigger fish to fry than toying with one of the nation's top women's basketball programs.

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A&M officially enters the SEC today, after exiting the Big 12 after 16 years on Saturday — the same day the Aggies hired an athletic director for the first time in a decade.

“He's a genuine individual who has the same core values Texas A&M enjoys,” A&M president R. Bowen Loftin said of Hyman.

Hyman, a former TCU athletic director, spent the past seven years at South Carolina, so he's intimately familiar with the powerful SEC.

“We've got to buckle up and be ready to compete at the highest level,” Hyman said during his introductory news conference in a large Memorial Student Center room crowded with A&M supporters.

Hyman said that A&M's sports complexes were “really good” compared to what he first encountered at South Carolina in 2005, and that he had visited with four people in the business he greatly respected for advice about the A&M gig. Hyman said all four practically used the same term in describing A&M: unlimited potential.

“There's energy, enthusiasm, tradition, the 12th Man, the Corps of Cadets, great facilities — you have so many things going for you,” he said. “They gave me the highest recommendation.”

Hyman replaces Bill Byrne, who retired on May 8 with more than a year remaining on his contract.

More Information

Eric Hyman

Age: 61

College: North Carolina, All-ACC football player in 1972 for the 11-1 conference champions; Furman, master's in educational administration, 1975

New job: Texas A&M athletic director

Old jobs:

• South Carolina AD, 2005-12

• TCU AD, 1998-2005

• Miami (Ohio) AD

• Virginia Military Institute AD

• North Carolina State executive associate AD

• Furman associate AD, assistant football coach

• North Greenville University women's basketball coach

Source: Express-News research

Hyman agreed to a five-year contract worth about $1 million per year including incentives, while

Byrne had a base salary of $690,000 that included incentives pushing his salary to nearly $1 million annually.

Hyman said two things in general make for a strong athletic department.

“Great coaching and you've got to have a sincere commitment (from players),” he said.

He said he realized an institution like A&M had been in place long before he arrived and “will be here long after I leave.”

“I want to be a difference maker in the timeframe that I'm here,” he said.

It helped his decision that he and Pauline's two children and their spouses all live in Fort Worth, a couple of hours to the northwest. The Hymans also are expecting their first grandchild in November.

“Your grandchild is your gift to you for not killing your kids while they're growing up,” Hyman said with a chuckle. “That's going to be a fun experience with my grandchild and my family back together again.”

Hyman, who was TCU's athletic director from 1997-2005, said he'll spend the first three months surveying the landscape of A&M's athletic department.

“Then I'll know how to move forward,” he said.

His top priority will be overseeing either the rebuilding or renovating of football's Kyle Field, set for after the 2013 season.

Blair, for one, sounded confident there won't be any wholesale changes among the coaches with a new boss onboard.

“He's not going to have to change any of the coaches that are in place,” said Blair, who won a national title a year ago. “We're strong together, and we're going to back him and he's going to back us.”